Know your M16s? Can you ID this model?

flashman2 said:
I don't think so. Your line on the muzzle device is too high; you can white between it and the black of the barrel. It needs to be lower, basically touching the oval you have drawn.

The other thing strongly suggesting to me it's an 11.5" bbl with no moderator is that the Army had known for nearly a decade at that point there were functioning and accuracy issues with the 10" barrel. That's why they went to 11.5 starting with the E2. It doesn't make sense to me that eight years after they figured that out, and after the progression from duckbill to 3.5" moderator to 4.5" moderator someone would stick a flash hider on a 10" barrel 609. It can only be a 609/XM177E1 given the fwd assist and assuming it has a 10" barrel. It would basically be a backwards modification decreasing already poor functioning. It's possible, yes. But I think far less likely than it being an XM177E2 with no moderator. It also looks too long to be a birdcage flash hider, but exactly the right length for an E2.
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Do you know how thin those barrels are? Why is it suddenly so thick after the front sight? You don't need anymore proof, it's so obvious I wonder why you keep challenging it.
 
-[Crosshair]- said:
Do you know how thin those barrels are? Why is it suddenly so thick after the front sight? You don't need anymore proof, it's so obvious I wonder why you keep challenging it.
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Well, I don't mean it as a personal affront.

It's not really obvious to me, actually.

It's too long to be a birdcage. The rest I explained above already. The circumstances that would see a 10" XM177E1 fitted with a flash hider in 1975 seem much less likely to have come to pass than it being an E2.

And as I say, the top of the barrel under the sight block is inline with the "muzzle device." The bottom of the "device" is significantly lower, apparently in line with the bottom of the sight block. So either it's wildly off center, or it's shadow making it look fatter. Even your lines on the photo show that - they're not even close to being equidistant from the lines showing the barrel. Do you think somehow if it's an A1 birdcage it's that much off bore centerline? You didn't notice that when drawing It?

Look at a Colt 607 / CAR 15 with the duckbill flash hider and 10" barrel. It's very noticeably shorter than what's in the pic above, and the duckbill is the same length as the A1 birdcage.

Any way, take a deep breath and relax. It's not a personal criticism.
 
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Dosing said:
torrent. Could be on PBS.org, but I dunno. Watched it the other nite on tv, saw the gun, thought WTF!?, so grabbed a torrent of it.
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Ahhh, ok, I'm out away from the computer ATM, couldn't find it on YT. PBS is blocked in Canada too.

Definitely an interesting gun. WTF for sure.

If it's a Marine, it's gotta be one of the guards organic to the embassy. The 9th Marines and 2/4 BLT that were flown in to augment all had full fighting order, etc.
 
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It's a XM177 with a A1 bird cage flash hider. There's my XM177 barrel. See how close the threads are to the FSB.
 
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Here's an actual XM177E2 with an A2 flash hider for comparison.
 
I’m leaning towards 10” with a birdcage myself.

Too bad no one makes 10” lightweights. Would be a cool build.

ETA: Slip ring has been swapped out on that E2. Still an interesting piece of history. Museum piece?
 
Now that is a rare part.

I also find it interesting that the lower is definitely black and not grey.
 
-[Crosshair]- said:
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It's not a step with threads, it's the end of the flash hider.
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You know what? The reason it looks too long is that what you have circled as the opening of the flash hider is actually a shadow under the guy's arm in the background. Blowing it up and tweaking it on Pixlr makes that apparent now. You can see there's a gap here between the end of the rifle and the dark shadow under the arm. If I had better Pixlr skills I'd lay an A1 birdcage over top to compare. Counting that shadow it looks too long to be a 10" with birdcage, but without it it looks just about right.

Adjusted for my monitor, hopefully it's clear.
 
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Rebel Rouser said:

It's a XM177 with a A1 bird cage flash hider. There's my XM177 barrel. See how close the threads are to the FSB.
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Cool, my bad. I always think of the 177 as having just the longer barrel spacing between the sight and muzzle device. Frankly I think this looks better.
 
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